Jersey Unreported Judgments

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

1 May 1998

Before: Francis Charles Hamon, Esq., Deputy Bailiff and

Jurats Herbert and Bullen

AG

-v-

Patrick Joseph Jones

3 counts of: possession of a controlled drug contrary to Article 6(1) of the Misuse of Drugs (Jersey) Law 1978:

Count 1: MDMA

Count 2: Amphetamine sulphate

Count 3: Cannabis resin

Plea: Guilty

Age: 40

Details of Offence:

On execution of a search warrant at the defendants home the police discovered 10 tablets of ecstasy, 9.41 grams of amphetamine sulphate, and 4.2 grams of cannabis resin ( total street value approximately £350).

Details of Mitigation:

Plea of guilty; co-operation with the police; defendant had self control to give up addiction to alcohol a few years earlier. He had shown a determination, whilst on remand, to give up his dependency on drugs and the Prison psychiatric nurse supported the assertion that he had the strength of character to enable him to succeed.

Previous Convictions:

A few including 2 for possession of controlled drugs.

Conclusions:

Count 1: 12 months imprisonment

Count 2: 3 months imprisonment concurrent

Count 3: 1 month imprisonment concurrent

Sentence & Observation of Court:

Count 1: 9 months imprisonment

Count 2: Conclusions granted

Count 3: Conclusions granted

The Court agreed that this was outside the circumstances envisaged in Buesnel and therefore a custodial sentence was appropriate, but the dogged determination of the defendant to wean himself off drugs enabled the Court to reduce the conclusions slightly.

The Attorney General

Advocate CM Fogarty for the accused

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF: We start in this case with a drugs warrant issued against Jones at his dwelling accommodation. The police found ten ecstasy tablets, some amphetamine sulphate, and cannabis resin.

The total value of the drugs seized was some £352, that includes an estimate of £20 to £25 for the cannabis. He is only charged with possession of these drugs, but these are class A and class B drugs, and we have of course had regard to the Attorney General -v- Buesnel, which is a binding authority as it was a Superior Number judgment. But, as the learned Attorney has said - and we agree with him - this case comes outside of Buesnel, and we could, according to AG -v- de la Haye and Kearney, take a starting point of 8 to 12 months in a case such of this.

Miss Fogarty has - if we may say so - in a compelling and lucid address, not only raised the question of co-operation and his guilty plea, but has enhanced the mitigation by reference to a report by the psychiatric nurse at the prison, which shows that Jones has displayed a dogged determination to wean himself off his drug habit, as apparently he did with his one time alcohol dependency, and that mitigation, we feel, allows us slightly to reduce the conclusions on count 1 where you are sentenced to 9 months imprisonment. On the other two counts we follow the conclusions of the Crown and we further order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Authorities

A.G -v- Buesnel (1996) JLR 265

A.G -v- de la Haye and Kearney (15 December 1995) Jersey Unreported